pared away, the ponds filled up, the river pushed away a long distance from the ancient shore, and every one of the venerable trees is gone.  The city shows no spot less suggestive of rural beauty.  But Richmond Hill, in the days of Hamilton and Burr, was the finest country residence on the island of Manhattan.  The wife of John Adams, who lived there in 1790, just before Burr bought it, and who had recently travelled in the loveliest counties of England, speaks of it as a situation not inferior in natural beauty to the most delicious spot she ever saw.  “The house,” she says,

“is situated upon an eminence; at an agreeable distance flows the noble Hudson, bearing upon its bosom the fruitful productions of the adjacent country.  On my right hand are fields beautifully variegated with grass and grain, to a great extent, like the valley of Honiton, in Devonshire.  Upon my left the city opens to view, intercepted here and there by a rising ground and an ancient oak.  In front, beyond the Hudson, the Jersey shores present the exuberance of a rich, well-cultivated soil.  The venerable oaks and broken ground, covered with wild shrubs, which surround me, give a natural beauty to the spot, which is truly enchanting.  A lovely variety of birds serenade me morning and evening, rejoicing in their liberty and security; for I have, as much as possible, prohibited the grounds from invasion, and sometimes almost wished for game-laws, when my orders have not been sufficiently regarded.  The partridge, the woodcock, and the pigeon are too great temptations to the sports-men to withstand.”

Indeed the whole Island was enchanting in those early days.  There were pleasant gardens even in Wall Street, Cedar Street, Nassau Street; and the Battery, the place of universal resort, was one of the most delightful public grounds in the world,—­as it will be again when the Spoiler is thrust from the places of power, and the citizens of New York come again into the ownership of their city.  The banks of the Hudson and of the East River were forest-crowned bluffs, lofty and picturesque, and on every favorable site stood a cottage or a mansion surrounded with pleasant grounds.  The letters of Theodosia Burr contain many passages expressive of her intense enjoyment of the variety, the vivid verdure, the noble trees, the heights, the pretty lakes, the enchanting prospects, the beautiful gardens, which her daily rides brought to her view.  She was a dear lover of her island home.  The city had not then laid waste the beauty of Manhattan.  There was only one bank in New York, the officers of which shut the bank at one o’clock and went home to dinner, returned at three, and kept the bank open till five.  Much of the business life of the town partook of this homely, comfortable, easy-going, rural spirit.  There was a mail twice a week to the North, and twice a week to the South, and many of the old-fashioned people had time to live.